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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



The Geology of Northumberland. — Pro- 

 fessor Lebour, F.G.S., of the College of Physical 

 Science, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has prepared an ex- 

 cellent geological map of the county of Northumber- 

 land, which is published by Andrew Reid, Newcastle. 

 This map will be of great service to geological students. 



The Royal School of Mines. — The appoint- 

 ment of Professor F. W. Rudler, of the University 

 College of Wales, to be curator of the Museum of 

 Practical Geology, and registrar of the Royal School 

 of Mines, Jermyn Street, in succession to the late 

 Mr. Trenham Reeks, will give great satisfaction to 

 all geologists throughout the United Kingdom. 



Underground Geology. — In a deep well-boring 

 at Ware, Plerts, the chalk and the gault were passed 

 through, but the lower greensand was absent, and 

 the boring tool at once struck upon upper Silurian 

 rocks, lying at an angle of forty degrees, although 

 unfortunately the direction of the dip is unknown. 

 These rocks were found to be rich in characteristic 

 fossils, twenty-eight species of which have been 

 properly catalogued. 



BOTANY. 



Orchis Morio. — In an upland meadow in South 

 Beds, I have just obtained about a dozen spikes of this 

 Orchis, showing every gradation of colour, from dark 

 purple, through various shades of red and pink, to a 

 pure white, with the exception of the characteristic 

 green lines on the side sepals. The higher the 

 general hue, the brighter was the green of these lines. 

 The pollinia also varied with the colour of the flower. 

 Those in the darkest varieties were tinged with 

 purple, and those in the white one were a rich golden 

 yellow. Very few insects had apparently visited 

 these flowers, for in most of the spikes none of the 

 pollinia had been removed, in others only two or 

 three, and in no case were both removed from the 

 same blossom. The visits of insects may have been 

 prevented by the excessive rains of the last few days. 

 — y. Saunders, Lnton. 



Nutrition in relation to Flowers.— At 

 a recent meeting of the Linnean Society, a paper 

 by Mr. Thomas Meehan, the well-known American 

 botanist, was read, in which the author's observations 

 on Wistaria sinensis, W.frntescens, Catalpa syringes- 

 folia, and Limina perenne were given. Mr. Meehan 

 thinks that the struggle for power between the vege- 

 tative and the reproductive forces decides fertility, 

 and suggests that the perfection of the polliniferous 

 organs, and the consequent potency of pollen, is 

 dependent on phases of nutrition involved in this 

 struggle. Thus, in the above mentioned plants, it is 

 seen that potency in pollen, the main element in 

 reproductive force, operates only when there has been 

 some check given to the force of vegetative growths. 



Insects destroyed by Flowers. — At a recent 

 meeting of the Entomological Society, Mr. J. M. Slater 

 sent a short paper on the above subject, in which he 

 stated that, whilst it is generally admitted that the 

 gay colours of flowers are mainly subservient to the 

 purpose of attracting bees and other winged insects, 

 whose visits play so important a part in the process 

 of fertilisation, one important fact had scarcely received 

 due attention. Certain gay-coloured or conspicuous 

 flowers are avoided by bees, or, if visited, have an 

 injurious and even fatal effect upon the insects. 

 Among these are the dahlia, passion-flower, crown- 

 imperial, and especially the oleander. That the 

 flowers of the dahlia have a narcotic effect, was first 

 pointed out by the Rev. L. Jenyns, who mentions 

 that bees which visit these flowers are soon seized 

 with a sort of torpor, and often die unless speedily 

 removed. Mr. Jenyns also quotes a writer in the 

 "Gardener's Chronicle," who pronounces the culti- 

 vation of the dahlia incompatible with the success of 

 the bee-keeper. The passion-flower also stultifies 

 bees, and bees of all kinds avoid the crown-imperial 

 and the oleander, for the honey of the latter is fatal 

 to flies. Mr. Slater did not remember ever seeing a 

 butterfly or moth settling on the flowers of this shrub 

 in Hungary and Dalmatia, and he thinks it important 

 that observers should ascertain whether the above- 

 mentioned phenomena be true, and, whether any 

 insects in such cases undertake the functions generally 

 exercised by bees, and whether flowers have a simi- 

 larly noxious or deadly action upon insects. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Slow Worm. — Mr. E. D. Marquand in his interest- 

 ing article on "The New Forest," mentions "a 

 bright reddish-purple variety" of the slow worm. A 

 few particulars respecting this variety as to its rarity 

 or otherwise, whether found in any other locality, 

 &c, would, I think, be interesting toother readers of 

 Science-Gossip as well as for myself. No mention 

 is made of it by Bell in his work on British reptiles. 

 Has Mr. Marquand met with Coluber (or Coronella) 

 Levis ? I find the New Forest mentioned as one of 

 its localities in the volume of Science-Gossip for 

 1872.— IV. G. TuxforJ. 



Cat rearing a Rat. — Even a more extraordinary 

 thing than a cat bringing up rabbits, is the following 

 case of a cat taking care of a rat for a month, when 

 the rat escaped. Last summer, a cat, a famous 

 hunter, was kept in a grocer's shop in Helensburgh. 

 She had a litter of kittens, of which three or four 

 were drowned. A day or two after this the cat came 

 upon a nest of young rats, six of which she killed, while 

 she carried off two, and put them in a basket beside her 

 remaining kittens. Her owner then put the kittens and 

 rats in a long barrel to prevent their getting out. For a 

 fortnight or so they all lived happily together, the 

 rats getting no food, so they must have been suckled 

 by the cat. One of the rats being a weakly one was 

 overlaid. A shopman took the remaining rat out of 

 the barrel when it ran away, but the cat found it, 

 and took it back to the barrel. Getting annoyed by 

 people who came to inspect the happy family, the cat 



